The Main Squeeze’s Smile High and Corey Frye talk ongoing tour, new album

Courtesy of The Main Squeeze

Smile High, keyboardist from R&B-jazz-soul fusion band The Main Squeeze, will release his highly collaborative project “The Vibetape” on Nov. 24.

Jackson Weier, Reporter

November 19, 2023

Two weeks after their most recent tour stop in North Carolina , The Main Squeeze’s keyboardist Ben “Smiley” Silverstein and lead vocalist Corey Frye sat down with The Daily to talk about their ongoing tour and Silverstein’s new solo album “The Vibetape.”

Formed in 2010, R&B-jazz-soul fusion band The Main Squeeze got their start as a party band at Indiana University. To date, they’ve played over 1,000 shows together.

On Oct. 20, The Squeeze (as they refer to themselves) touched down in Chicago to perform at Thalia Hall

“Chicago was a highlight for sure,” Silverstein recounted. “It was a nice homecoming sort of show.”

Frye also showed love to a venue right in Northwestern’s backyard: Evanston SPACE .

Frye said the venue was one of the first he ever performed at. Lincoln Hall and The Squeeze’s recently visited Thalia Hall are two of his other favorites, he added.

While the band is currently back at the “Squeeze House” in Los Angeles on a break from tour, they’ll be back on the road soon for four more shows this holiday season, including “Squeezegiving” in Indianapolis, near where the band originally took shape over a decade ago

Days after “Squeezegiving,” Silverstein —known individually as Smile High— will be dropping his new, highly collaborative album “The Vibetape” on Nov. 24.

The album is a joint project between Smile High and The Main Squeeze, featuring over a dozen vocalists including rapper 6LACK, R&B singer Tiffany Gouché and rapper Felly.

The recording process was highly collaborative and energetic, Silverstein said.

“We host all these parties at our house that are for everyone in L.A. that’s either an artist, music producer, musician, writer or just loves music,” he said. “If you were there, you experienced that it was magic, you left inspired, and that was it. But we tried to make it where some of these moments were captured forever in some form.”

Numerous singles from the project are streaming now, including piano-ballad-turned-funk-tune “All for You,” a six-year project, and smooth atmospheric “Kinks” .

“You make all these songs that live on your hard drive,” Silverstein said. “I think (‘All for You’ is the) one I’m most proud of, that it stood the test of time, and it’s finally out in the world.”

The single “Kinks,” is another example of the collaborations The Squeeze said they live for. The band originally met 6LACK and QUIN both featured on the track, as their neighbors in L.A., hearing each other’s music coming from their respective houses, Frye said.

“A lot of the relationships out of The Vibetape have been spurred out of moments like that, which makes the collective energy around the project just so good and positive because that’s what it was built out of,” Frye said.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @JacksonWeier